With the prevalence of fast food establishments, single use dispenser napkins have become important. Single use dispenser napkins are highly desirable in the quick service restaurant industry because they are readily dispensed and are highly sanitary but, most of all, because they are economical. Dispenser napkins are commonly found on countertops or tabletops in lunchrooms and restaurants. Because of their public location, the ability of the napkins to be dispensed in a highly sanitary manner is an important attribute.
Dispenser napkins are paper products that are folded to achieve a size, strength and bulk based on the desired end use. Dispenser napkins are folded in a variety of ways to accommodate variations in intended use or dispenser style. The folds of the napkin are intended to enable a napkin to be contained in a reasonably sized dispenser, reinforce the napkin, to make it strong enough to resist tearing or tabbing during the dispensing process and also to facilitate the removal of individual napkins or sheets from the dispenser.
A variety of napkin configurations are present in the marketplace today. In one example, a stack of napkins is created from sheets comprising a generally rectangular central panel and two end panels. The central panel is bordered by two free edges and two fold lines on the opposite sides of the central panel, while each end panel is bordered by three free edges and a fold line dividing it from the central panel. When viewing the folded sheet from the side, the sheet resembles a flattened "Z" and hence is termed a Z-fold napkin. When stacked, one end panel is often positioned interfolded with the end panel of the next adjacent sheet. As one sheet is dispensed, the end panel of the next sheet will become accessible to the user from the dispenser. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,602,013 and 5,368,188 disclose paper products folded in this "Z" configuration.
During removal of standard "Z" fold sheets from a dispenser, the user can only grasp a single layer of the paper sheet. Because sheets folded in the "Z" configuration are interfolded, when removing the sheet by grasping the exposed flap, the user is actually pulling not one, but at least a portion of two or more sheets out of the dispenser with this single end panel. Because of the stresses associated with removal of more than one sheet, tearing of "Z" folded sheets during dispensing is a common problem.
Conventional methods of folding paper napkins produce folds in both the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction of the napkin. According to the present invention, "folded in the longitudinal direction" of the napkin defines a napkin containing a fold running perpendicular to the width of the fully opened napkin. Similarly, when a napkin is "folded in the transverse direction," it has a fold running parallel to the width of the fully opened napkin. The width of the napkin according to the present invention does not relate to the machine direction or cross machine direction of the paper web, but instead, simply refers to the shortest free edge of the fully opened napkin sheet.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,600,837 to Melker discloses a paper napkin folded in both the longitudinal and transverse direction. Folds in both directions allow the napkin to be opened to cover, for example, the user's lap during use and also to provide a napkin with a reinforced flap. This reinforced flap is designed to prevent the napkin from being torn or mutilated while being removed from a dispenser.
Accommodating both longitudinal and transverse folds requires the napkin web and the automated folders conventionally employed to produce these dispenser napkins be moved relative to one another. Additionally, because the napkin panels produced by a longitudinal fold are often not equal, a folded napkin with an unequal thickness is often produced. Commonly, either one end or one side of the folded napkin is thicker than the other, resulting in high and low strength areas.
Napkins with this type of non-uniform thickness often have a problem dispensing properly from conventional dispensing devices. When such napkins are stacked, the high firmness areas are usually placed adjacent one another. This creates a firm side or firm end and a soft side or soft end in the stack of napkins. This soft side can be crushed or folded when a stack of napkins is banded together using either a paper or plastic band. Crushing or folding often results in wrinkles that interfere with the dispensability of the napkin product.
The present invention overcomes these and other drawbacks by providing single-ply paper napkins of substantially uniform strength and thickness that are free of longitudinal folds. A single-ply paper napkin according to the present invention contains folds in only a single direction of the product--the transverse direction. Because the napkin is both formed from a single ply of napkin stock and free of longitudinal folds, operational economies in the production processes make it possible to produce these napkins at significantly lower cost than napkins formed either from multiple plies of napkin stock with longitudinal folds. The paper napkins according to the present invention possess the highly desirable combination of low cost and improved dispensability.
In most cases, napkins employed in connection with commercial food service or the "away-from-home" market are not purchased by the end user. Thus, the primary considerations by a purchaser of these napkins are usually cost, number of napkins that can be fit into a dispenser and dispensability characteristics. The purchaser of the napkins wants to make it easy for their customer, the end user, to remove a single napkin from the dispenser, but relatively more difficult to grab a handful. Similarly, because of the high volume of the napkins often used by these businesses, the space required for storing cases of napkins can assume considerable significance.
The paper napkins according to the present invention address these problems associated with prior art products. They are low in cost, easily loaded into dispensers, easily dispensed and more compact. The preferred napkins, also impart pleasing tactile sensations to the user while the napkin is in use. The paper napkins according to the present invention avoid tabbing or tearing when removed from a paper napkin dispenser and retain their physical integrity during use. Most importantly, single-ply paper napkins according to the present invention may be produced at significantly lower cost than conventional napkins.
The napkins of the present invention are produced using high strength single-ply paper webs. In a given period of time, a paper machine forming a single-ply paper web can produce more than one and a half times the number of napkins than it can produce when being used to produce comparable two ply napkins. The stronger single-ply paper web generally allows for better control during production. The strength of this single ply web makes it more easily converted on many types of conventional converting equipment and thus, allows higher running speeds than with lighter webs.
The stronger single-ply web of the napkins according to the present invention can achieve better emboss definition enabling the emboss patterns to be retained longer during packaging. Moreover, the stronger single-ply web can conserve starting material, especially fibers, used in the production of the web since the single ply web of the napkins according to the present invention will often be lighter than a double ply web. Because the total weight of the napkins are reduced on an area basis, the amount of fiber required to make a ream of napkins can be considerably less than the amount of fiber required to make a ream of conventional napkins.
Up to a 40-50% increase in productivity can be achieved because of the increased efficiency of the processing steps necessary to produce the single-ply paper napkins of the present invention. An automated folder producing napkins according to the present invention can run significantly faster because there is no need to turn the napkin web for folds in both the longitudinal and transverse direction.
Finally, because single-ply paper napkins according to the present invention can be made more compact they can take as little as two-thirds the space associated with a similar count of prior art napkins. This reduction in space allows both for a decrease in storage space and for more napkins to be able to be placed into conventional cassette napkin dispensers, thereby reducing the frequency that the dispensers must be refilled.
Paper napkins according to the present invention are preferably folded and arranged in a stack which makes it possible to remove the paper napkins from a napkin dispenser one at a time without unsanitary contact with the other napkins in the dispenser.